In this article written in The Globe and Mail on October 7, 2010, web presence – more specifically, e-commerce – among brick and mortar retailers is discussed. The major point is whether the costs (setup, staffing, maintaining, stocking inventory, copy, etc) outweigh the benefits. Some good points were covered: young shoppers expect to be able to buy online, e-commerce sparks brick and mortar sales since customers are likely to research purchases online first.
Although the costs of e-commerce can be overwhelming (and according to the article even exceed sales), I believe it is an imperative tool to compete in today’s marketplace – especially for consumer products. If the costs can be appropriately managed, and benefits measured a ROI can be planned and realized over time. However, this gets more difficult if the company doesn’t offer e-commerce, and rather just has web presence. Having experience in managing a non e-commerce website, I’ve seen the challenges of measuring ROI. It first starts with an objective of the website – if we’re not selling anything, why spend money? In many cases it’s mainly to provide contact information, hours, etc – as well as building a brand image. In our case, since the core business is selling high-end luxury jewelry, our objective is to display the products in such a fashion that it supports the brand image. Measurement is in the form of SEO tracking, web analytics, and customer (including new customers!) feedback.
Web presence – be it e-commerce or just useful information – is very important and one must understand benefits may not be seen until the mid or long-term.
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